France 0-0 Ireland. Your views?

[da Boy Wonder]

got exactly what we came for and fully deserved it. Could have nicked a goal, but then just as equally could France have too.

It's the first time I've been really convinced by an Irish performance in a competitive match under Brian Kerr. As before last night, we only seemed to look promising with our performances in the friendlies i.e. Brazil, Czech Rep, Holland etc, but when it came down to the crucial, important games i.e. Russia, Switzerland we were always failed to deliver the performance and were unconvincing - looked negative in the way we went about playing our game and fragile, ordinary.

However I take my hat off to them last night, it was a very important game and we produced what was required of us. We weren't intimidated by the French and their reputation, played them for man 11 vs 11 (12 if you want to include the superb 30k+ Irish support there), matched them over the park by playing a smart game which kept France quiet for long periods of the match and unlike the Swiss game last month, looked like we wanted to win the game rather than sitting back and being content with holding on for a draw. Had more hunger and were far more positive with our play, hope to see more of that for the return clashes with France, Switzerland and the double header against Israel.

Faroes next on Wednesday night, anything less than three points is disasterous. Would like to see us win by a decent margin too (3+) for goal difference sake. As with the way this group is shaping out, qualification or who finishes runner-up or third, could come down to it this time next year.

BTW: Fair play to Slovenia beating Italy and to Liechtenstein for finally taking the monkey off our backs (i.e. 0-0 1995 ) and holding Portugal to a 2-2 draw having been 2 nil down!

[wallis]

For me Kevin Kilbane was MOM. I never saw him miss a tackle. He broke up the french attacks, was intelligent on the ball, put hi,self about and never stopped running.

Shay did his job between the sticks and looked safe as ever and every man gave his all. Im disappointed we didnt take the three points.

The only worry I have is still our left side with JOS at left back. We never really got to grips with that area of the pitch.

Support was incredible - lets take the three points against the Faroes and go to our rightful place at the top of the group !

[tetsujin1979]

It was as good as I've seen Ireland play so far under Kerr, a point was thoroughly deserved. The entire team played together, but I'd like to single out Clinton (who answered a lot of his critics with his performance until being taken off) and Kilbane, who completely justified his selection ahead of Kavanagh and Holland.

[Superhoops]

EMMET.........were u watching the same game as the rest of us. im not a fan of o shea but he did very well

Not sure if you were at the match of just watching it on TV. I have just got back from Paris and 90% of people I spoke to last night and today agree that O'Shea had a nightmare.

This is nothing to to with his goal miss, although it put the icing on a terrible performance.

JOS was selected at left back. Time and time again he was exposed down that flank and got sucked in to the middle out of position, leaving the French to launch most of their attacks down that wing. Look how many times Duff had to track back and play in our last third of the field. Shades of Ian Harte and Kilbane havng to back track (Now KK is free of that shackle, he showed last night he is more than worth his place in our strongest line-up).

O'Shea just cannot defend! He will never make a left back. He may make a midfielder in time, but needs more time in that postition. I cannot see where he fits into our current midfield set-up, certainly not ahead of Kilbane.

[thejollyrodger]

I disagree

I think Josh had an average game for his standards. He isnt full of confidence and I think thats the main problem. Duff did have to back track but even with all JOSH's mistakes Ireland were never really up against it. The play was very open but I wouldnt call it a nightmare.

I would call Ian Hearte and Japan a nightmare HAHAHAHA

[tricky_colour]

One thing we should remember about the France game is that
they are not actually a very good side!!
They also 0-0 drew with Israel at home and could only put two past
the Faroe Islands so lets just keep our feet on the ground.

We may well struggle to put more than two goals past the Faroes and
we may also struggle against Israel.

Look at it this way, Israel are a better team than France going by their draw away to France.

There is a big danger in becoming complacent and thinking we have
came on it leaps and bounds.

It could simply be that France are now a pretty poor side.

Beware!!

[Superhoops]

Maybe I was alone, but I thought O`Shea was man of the match, and no, I don't support United. Everything he did was with confidence and he looked the part against the French, unlucky with his chance I thought, didn't really have time to think about bringing it down or do anything but just point it somewhere near the goal.

O`Shea 8.5 - my man of the match, thought he did almost everything right.

Sorry, you have this totally wrong! Philip Quinn of the Indo has it spot on:

JOHN O'SHEA: He's six foot three, of imposing build, so what's he doing at left-back? Alex Ferguson won't play him at centre-half, and neither will Brian Kerr. Ultimately, neither are doing any favours to O'Shea because, by sticking him out on the left, he's vulnerable to pace. Such was O'Shea's uncertainty; he lacked the courage to press forward when his presence was needed. To be fair, he improved after half-time. So near and yet so far with THAT far post chance. 6

[roboyle]

Yeah, I'm not long back myself and the consensus from post-match discussions was that O'Shea was the weakest link in the team - just doesn't seem to be able to concentrate for 90 mins - there were times when the ball needed to be played quickly on and when te ball was passed to him, he almsot seemed like he didn't know what to do with it... as well as that, he seemed to be out of position more that Finnan, Carr or Duff, even though Duff (in particular) was covering alot more ground than him... I just don't know where his form from 18 months ago has gone...
As for MOTM nominations, Reid, Given and Duff all did particularly well but for the amount of ball won and tracking back done, Kilbane has to get the non - Ireland's new box-to-box midfield player!

[roboyle]

Note this however: We had practically our strongest team available, France had as many absentees as they're likely to have at any other stage in qualifying and we had the bigger, more vocal support, yet we only 'managed' a draw... should our expectations of the return leg be guided by this?

[Stuttgart88]

Really good performance, but Kilbane & Clinton stood out for me as they're probably the two players the fans have least faith in. They both rose to the oaccasion magnificently.

Our centre-back pairing is really gelling. That's two big games in a row now by O'Brien and he has really settled in at international level.

(I didn't see the Barthez incident - what exactly happened?)

The big thing in this group now is to bag the 3 points on Wednesday and get 6 points from Israel (will be tough) and a win in Cyprus.

By the time we play the Swiss at home it'd be nice to have second place guaranteed and wins against the "lesser sides" is crucial to get to this stage.

To be honest, I still think a draw would be a good result at home to France.

[pbn]

For all our good work on Sat night, I'm afraid the old problem of not being able putting the ball in the net still exists. Bartez played well because he commanded his area well making plenty of catches and punches but how many shots did he have to save? One i think. Clinton huffs and puffs, holds the ball up well and plays his heart out but he's not deadly in front of goal. Likewise Robbie needs a few chances before he gets one goal. We should have finished the game off but we weren't able to !!

On a more positive note I cant believe how improved O'Brien is and well done Kevin Kilbane who has been "plugging" away for years under a fair bit of criticism.

[thejollyrodger]

I dont think international's are as simply as that. Just look at Henry, great player in the priemership but I didnt see him doing too much damage around the irish goals. Robbie Keane isnt on top form but he is our best striker and he will come back on form when we really need him. Hopefully wednesday.

[Java Bleue]

From a french perspective it's a pity we dropped 2 points but it could have been worse, overall considering who was playing in our midfield I guess we have to be satisfied with that. For euro 92 and 2004 we had a 100% record during the qualif and then we were crap during the finals so maybe it's not a bad thing if we're struggling a little bit...

As for Ireland, fair play to you guys; let's not forget though that not so long ago you got a point from Holland and Portugal and you threw it all away in Macedonia, now wouldn't it be just stupid if the same thing was to happen again...

[Junior]

great performance from the lads, and I echoe what everyone on here says with regards to KK performance - superb.

However, I thought Kerr was a little negative in the last 15-20 minutes when we were in complete control, the win was there for the taking and we remained cautious. Two corners where AO'B and KC remained on the half way line marking fresh air. With all the controlled football we played, as someone else pointed out Barthez barely had a save to make.

France will be a different side in 11 months time and I hope we don't live to regret not taking the 3 points.

Having said all the that you would have snapped their hand off, if offered a point before kick off.

[Knoert]

Great match for us, I'm happy with the draw, but we just could have beaten them, what a miracle that should have been...

Magnificent support btw!

[Closed Account 2]

Great game, all the lads played well. If we play like that in our remaining games we'll win the group - but I have a feeling it wont be that simple. I think if Clinton hadnt gone off we might well have nicked all three points, I could see why Kerr brought Andy Reid on (and I'd have done the same), but with him being less of an out-and-out striker I think we didnt have as much of a pressure outlet in the 2nd half. Had Clinton been on longer, with his pace and size, I could have seen us getting a goal on the break.

My man of the match would probably be Given as he had to concentrate a lot (as wasnt being tested constantly unlike in the Swiss game). I also think Zinadine Kilbane did well and Robbie Keane (who was at times almost a lone striker). The best aspect of the game was the way we hardly ever gave possesion away thru mistakes (unlike in Basle) - by and large the French only got possesion from free kicks or when our attacks broke down in their area/half. Our passing was just right, we kept it simple (& a lot of credit needs to go to the back 4 esp. the full backs for giving our midfield players the simple option) and didnt go for the "Hollywood" pass too often. Another good thing was the fact noone got booked (at least I think that was the case).

As for the future well we have to win on Wednesday, theyre not an aweful side but if we are in anyway serious about going to Germany then we must win (and a few goals could be useful too). Similarly we need to win the matches in Nicosia and Torshaven - we are easily good enough to do that (no disrespect to the Cypriots or Faroese) if we put our minds to it. I think Israel will be a very big test, we should beat them at home but away it could be tricky (i'd compare it to the last time we competitivly played a team begining with "I"). Then that leaves the Swiss and French at home, both big games which the players should be up for - I'd take 4 points from those two home games.

Overall were in a better situation than 2 years ago, I think we'll get 2nd place... just.

[pineapple stu]

let's not forget though that not so long ago you got a point from Holland and Portugal and you threw it all away in Macedonia, now wouldn't it be just stupid if the same thing was to happen again...

Nah - different groups. Macedonia was Euro 2000, Holland and Portugal was 2002 World Cup, when we qualified. Dno't go taking that as me saying we're definites to qualify though!

Bizarre ratings in L'Equipe, the French sports magazine. Given got 6½ and was called absolutely impeccable. No-one else on the Irish team got more than 6 - O'Shea was one. Keane, Duff and Kilbane got 5½s. Barthez got 7½ for France, but Mavuba got 3½ and Cissé and Silvestre got 4. Don't sound very happy at all! Had an article on the Ireland fans with some small interviews, and a brief interview with Pires, where they asked him about 60% of the ground booing him (after pointing out that it was for a dive) - he said it only motivated him. Sunday Times gave most Ireland players 8s, with Kilbane on a 9 - seemed to make more sense.

[tricky_colour]

Yes I would be hard pushed to rate any Irish player below 7.5
The Sunday Times is a quality paper, not some French rag.
We made very few mistakes, Carr over hit one pass but that was
in the French penalty area, he defended well and put in a great
cross from a pass which looked like it was over hit, he also
defended very well.
O'Brian was class looked very confident on the ball, made me
feel save, often in the past I have felt worried when Irish defenders
are on the ball!! Finnan contributed a lot and combined very well
with Carr, I like Finnan, he always looks alert and aware of the
situation.
Clinton was magnificent when he was on, maybe I expected more
of Reid who repacedhim but thats cos I am a Forest fan and have
high expectations for him, even then he got a long shot on taarget
which the keeper could not hold. JOSH made the odd uncomplete
pass in the opposition half but that is to be expected.
Keane had a hic-cup when his jock strap slipped but was class
apart from that, almost played a killed ball to Clinton too.
Kilbane was a force in the midfield won a lot of possession and
caused the French problems. Cunningham was getting his head
on a lot of attacking balls, Duff was well marked as ususal but still
did well, creating space for others, Given well he close to MOM
for me but it would be unfair to give it to him cos it would
seem like we struggled and we didn't struggle at all, he made two
top class saves though, but that is what you expect from a top
keeper. And then there is Robbie Keane, he didn't get many
chances up front but he worked really hard helping out the midfield,
often when I looked back at the game to see who was doing the
work when I could not identify the midfield player it was Robbie.
So yes 8's and 9's are fair ratings, the French rag journalist
obviously doesn't have much of a clue about the game, you can
add 2 or 3 to his ratings apart from Barthez who was crap and
almost cost the French the game.

[eirebhoy]

Bizarre ratings in L'Equipe, the French sports magazine. Given got 6½ and was called absolutely impeccable. No-one else on the Irish team got more than 6 - O'Shea was one. Keane, Duff and Kilbane got 5½s. Barthez got 7½ for France, but Mavuba got 3½ and Cissé and Silvestre got 4. Don't sound very happy at all! Had an article on the Ireland fans with some small interviews, and a brief interview with Pires, where they asked him about 60% of the ground booing him (after pointing out that it was for a dive) - he said it only motivated him. Sunday Times gave most Ireland players 8s, with Kilbane on a 9 - seemed to make more sense.

AFAIK L'equipe give ratings out of 8.

Lads, there's a lot of credit going to the players, surely Kerr deserves a lot of it for everything he did.

[Hither green]

Great game, all the lads played well. If we play like that in our remaining games we'll win the group - but I have a feeling it wont be that simple. I think if Clinton hadnt gone off we might well have nicked all three points, I could see why Kerr brought Andy Reid on (and I'd have done the same), but with him being less of an out-and-out striker I think we didnt have as much of a pressure outlet in the 2nd half. Had Clinton been on longer, with his pace and size, I could have seen us getting a goal on the break.

I agree with you there. Clinton looked very good, held the ball up extremely well. Made sense bringing on Reid against the French but rumour has it he may also start up front against the Faroes. Don't we need an out-and-out striker?